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Dynamics of Spiritual Life: An Evangelical Theology of Renewal
Richard Lovelace gives a history of spiritual renewals in light of biblical models. Isolating the elements of live orthodoxy, he proposes a comprehensive approach to renewal. Lovelace looks at such practical issues as renewal of the local congregation, the ways revivals go wrong, the evangelical thrust toward church unity, and Christian approaches to the arts and to social concern. A book for all concerned to revitalize the church.
455 pages, Paperback
First published July 13, 1979
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About the author
Richard F. Lovelace
10 books10 followersNot to be confused with Richard Lovelace, the English seventeenth century poet.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews
July 4, 2022
Brilliant, rich, and deep-Lovelace's diagnostic insights and prescriptions for the Christian life and the Church are spot on and prophetically clear. While there are portions of the book that are dated or tedious in their analysis of Christian movements over the years, the conclusions Lovelace draws are wonderful. I would recommend this to any church leader or serious Christian who wants to pour themselves into the work of God's kingdom.
December 30, 2007
This book is what brought me back to the content of my Reformed heritage, and stopped my movement towards Catholicism. It might not be the most spectacular book out there, but Lovelace's generosity of spirit is there on every single page.
On the other hand, he wrote in the seventies; sadly, his high hopes for the nascent Christian music industry would prove to be unfounded.
On the other hand, he wrote in the seventies; sadly, his high hopes for the nascent Christian music industry would prove to be unfounded.
June 9, 2022
Finished at the end of semester. Brilliant work. Well thought out and a book to return to often. More ministers (and lay-people!) should read this. Will need updating soon when it comes to the proposed models simply due to changing culture.
November 5, 2021
Dynamics of Spiritual Life would not have been on my reading list but for Tim Keller’s recommendation. On multiple occasions, Keller has listed this book as one of the most influential in his life, and he wrote a new forward in the 2020 re-release. As I began, it became clear that while I tend to choose academic history over popular history, I prefer a bit more accessible theology rather than academic theology. Dynamics of Spiritual Life is dense, and each page seemed to have something that demanded time and reflection. Lovelace’s book is immensely valuable—even to a mainstream audience—but readers should know what to expect before diving into Lovelace’s insightful book.
I give this warning with a further point that Lovelace begins by exploring previous examples of spiritual revivals throughout history. I previously read a biography of Jonathan Edwards, leader in the revival known as the “First Great Awakening” during colonial America. I also read his book, Religious Affections. Both gave me a good primer for Dynamics of Spiritual Life and served as a foundation for my reading. I think reading this book would have been more challenging without the context. With those caveats in place, I recommend Dynamics of Spiritual Life as an excellent foundation for church history and biblical insight.
There were a number of sections in this book that stayed with me. Because the book is dense, I found myself chewing on ideas for days or weeks after reading them. The following includes the excerpts and positions I spent the most time contemplating:
Lovelace repeatedly observed that a large-group commitment to prayer occurred whenever there has been a revival. Indeed, this was a theme of his book from start to finish. Later in the book, Lovelace referenced Acts 6 when the apostles concluded they needed to appoint deacons to divide the bread. The apostles could not address the responsibility because they needed to devote themselves “to prayer and to the ministry of the word (emphasis added).” Ministry of the word was not the first priority; it was prayer. The critical element of prayer was a theme that Lovelace meaningfully explored from start to finish.
The early sections of Dynamics did a good job of exploring man’s nature as generally good or generally evil. Lovelace cited Kierkegaard, who “complained that the New Testament as usually understood is an inadequate instrument for converting respectable people because it was designed for sinners.” If people don’t see themselves as such, it is harder to recognize a need for Christ. The Old Testament was designed to awaken a hunger for redemption. The law shows the need for reconciliation with God and His holiness. Lovelace stated that it must be a complete picture of God that Christians teach: “God’s mercy, patience, and love must be fully preached in the church. But they are not credible unless they are presented in tension with God‘s infinite power, complete and sovereign control of the universe, holiness, and righteousness.”
Relatedly, Lovelace’s exploration of justification versus sanctification was well done. He explained that being justified—claiming the righteousness of Christ the only ground for acceptance before God—creates a relaxing quality of trust. This trust that we are justified despite our inadequacies produces increasing sanctification—moving toward greater obedience—occurs out of love and gratitude.
Here is a great quote on an area where Christians often lose focus: Too often we work to maintain a personal and church culture and “forget outreach, especially if the process of reaching out involves touching those who may contaminate us.” This leads to maintaining denominational traditions and thus drifting away from the church’s true mission.
These ideas on neglecting prayer and individual churches’ self-maintenance come together in how we pray: “the proportion of horizontal communication that goes on in the church (in planning, arguing and, expanding) is overwhelmingly greater than that which is vertical (in worship, thanksgiving, confession, and intercession).”
Lovelace came back to prayer again when looking at small-group prayers: “Often the concerns which are shared and prayed about are wholly personal, involved with healing, psychological adjustment, and other immediate individual burdens. Larger issues which are closely related to the interests of the kingdom of God are ignored.” Lovelace continues that the Lord’s Prayer is instructive in its focus: worship, desire for God’s will on earth, and then personal concerns.
“The ‘ultimate concern’ of most church members is not the worship and service of Christ and evangelistic mission and social compassion, but rather survival and success in their secular vocation. The church is a spoke on the wheel of life connected to the secular hub. It is a departmental sub-concern, not the organizing center of all other concerns.”
Lovelace observed that this approach leads to external rule-following extending from a dose of willpower. But such a limited understanding of justification or being part of God’s beloved means there is little change toward the internal issues of pride, covetousness, and hostility. Lovelace compared this approach to church as a trained seal performing its routine. Attendees can participate in activities and toss around Christian buzzwords but the changed heart cannot occur with such superficiality.
The following paragraph seems especially relevant with what we saw amid the pandemic. Lovelace notes the insecurity that many people in the church experience: “Consciously, they defend themselves as dedicated Christians who are as good as anybody else, but underneath the conscious level there is deep despair and soft rejection. Above the surface this often manifest itself in a compulsive floating hostility which focuses upon others in critical judgment.” He continues: “Christians who are insecure in their relationship to Christ can be a thorn bush of criticism, rejection, estrangement, and party spirit. Unsure in the depths of their hearts what God thinks of them, church members will fanatically affirm their own gifts and take fierce offense when anyone slights them, or else they will fuss endlessly with a self-centered inventory of their own inferiority in an inverted pride.”
Lovelace explored the foundations of Christian counseling and the difficulty of reconciling biblical principles with modern psychology. He criticized individuals that neglect developing counseling ministries and sees it as “essential to the renewal of the local congregation.” Relatedly, Lovelace cautioned against repudiating all mainstream psychology—the nouthetic approach to counseling. He discusses this in the context of common grace and notes there are elements of truth in any system, including psychotherapy. The key is applying biblical truth to test and verify what is encountered in the field.
Lovelace referenced a thoughtful excerpt from Religious Affections by Jonathan Edwards: “Spiritual Pride is very apt to suspect others; whereas a humble saint is most jealous of himself, he is so suspicious of nothing in the world as he is of his own heart…But The eminently humble Christian has so much to do at home…that he is not apt to be very busy with the other hearts.” Lovelace continues: “Pride magnifies the faults of other Christians and diminishes their graces…” Additionally, spiritual pride often makes people concerned about externalities and being mocked or persecuted for those oddities rather than keeping the focus on appearing as fools on account of Christ. The former is an invented strangeness rather than Christ-focused living.
Lovelace observed that we see American traits of “covetousness, gluttony, egocentric libertarianism, and pride, all of which have been selectively bread into our culture,” which reflects what we might expect as distorted virtues in a free-market democracy—the desired traits of “ambition, enterprise, freedom, [and] self-respect” other cultures are certain to have other collective vices, but many Christians from other cultures observe that “American Christians have their lives organized around the kingdom of business success and not the kingdom of God.“
This section resonated deeply with me: “God has provided us with the ability to gather information and to make rational decisions in the light of [our intellect and experiences] in conformity with his revealed will in scripture. Any method of guidance which habitually detours around reason is crippling and dehumanizing. It will lead to indecision, hesitation to act where the imperatives of action are plain to reason informed by Scripture, and inability to plan properly and to maintain or adapt plans when made.” Lovelace continues, however, to note there is something more than reason alone, as Christians are to be “led by the Spirit of God.” Jonathan Edwards put it like this: “And thus the Spirit of God leads and guides the meek in his way…he enables them to understand the commands and counsels of his word, and rightly to apply them.”
Consider this observation by Father John Neuhaus believed that “culture is the root of politics, and religion is the root of culture.” As we look at the current state of politics and discourse, I can’t help but think how much time conservative Christians spend on politics rather than evangelism. The idea fits together with this observation by Lovelace on society: “The ultimate solution to cultural decay is not so much the repression of bad culture as the production of sound and healthy culture, which in a society salted with vital Christianity will readily crowd out the bad. Therefore, we should direct most of our energy not to the censorship of decadent culture, but the production and support of healthy expressions of Christian and non-Christian art.”
Lovelace summarizes Jonathan Edwards’s take on generosity as follows: “[W]e cannot Deny help to the undeserving, since this would clash with God’s gift of grace to us and our consequent obligation to love even our enemies. Nor can we fail to help the man who is indigence is due to his own financial in Providence; this is not necessarily sin but may be due to a warrant of economic sense which is as real a handicap is blindness. Even if it is delivered, it should be forgiven by fellow sinners. Even the man who is personally at fault and continues to be slothful for after receiving help should continue to get it, for the sake of his family! Against the backdrop of these rigorous deductions from the doctrines of grace, contemporary evangelical conservatism sounds like an echo of non-Christian callousness.”
This observation is worth exploring. Lovelace observed an unofficial divide of enculturation that has occurred. “Evangelicals became the Republican Party at prayer, and Liberals, the religious expression of Democratic ideals.” One consequence of this divide is Evangelicalism has become “remarkably inert in the social dimension” Lovelace also noted “In this century, the evangelical sector has specialized in theological and personal repentance, and the ‘liberal’ sector has specialized in social repentance. This division of labor has not worked very well.”
I found it striking how this 40-year-old passage could have easily been written today. Lovelace concludes that it is unacceptable to teach righteousness in an individual without fighting injustice and unrighteousness in corporate structures. He also concludes that it is similarly unacceptable to focus wholly on societal ills.
Lovelace again ties this back to prayer: “Most…who are praying are not praying about social issues, and most of those who are active in social issues are not praying.” The effect is little cultural effect by either liberals or evangelicals. Lovelace also circled back to evangelical inactivity when he wrote, “others may be profoundly uneasy about [these ideas] because it assumes our responsibility to work for better conditions in the world.”
Consider Lovelace’s concluding optimism that we may be in the greatest era of spreading the Gospel: “The world Evangelical community is organizing for mission now with a technological skill which is unprecedented. The number of available missionary fraternal workers is growing daily. The information and transportation explosions and the evolution of two great trade empires, the communist and capitalist worlds, have contracted the planet, if not to a single village, at least to several towns which are in close touch with one another.”
Remember, after all, “the central theme of the biblical drama of redemption…through the mercy of God.”
Dynamics of Spiritual Life is an excellent book, but the title seemed ill-fitting when I first started the book. My expectations were more of an individual focus on living, which Lovelace did address. The focus was more on the history of the church—what it is and what it should be. Yet after reading the book, the title seems all the more fitting. Lovelace’s books gives a game plan—particularly for church leaders—on how to live and where the focus in churches should be. Dynamics of Spiritual Life prompted significant contemplation and it is worth wrestling with the text. There is much to consider, and the results are certainly worthwhile.
I give this warning with a further point that Lovelace begins by exploring previous examples of spiritual revivals throughout history. I previously read a biography of Jonathan Edwards, leader in the revival known as the “First Great Awakening” during colonial America. I also read his book, Religious Affections. Both gave me a good primer for Dynamics of Spiritual Life and served as a foundation for my reading. I think reading this book would have been more challenging without the context. With those caveats in place, I recommend Dynamics of Spiritual Life as an excellent foundation for church history and biblical insight.
There were a number of sections in this book that stayed with me. Because the book is dense, I found myself chewing on ideas for days or weeks after reading them. The following includes the excerpts and positions I spent the most time contemplating:
Lovelace repeatedly observed that a large-group commitment to prayer occurred whenever there has been a revival. Indeed, this was a theme of his book from start to finish. Later in the book, Lovelace referenced Acts 6 when the apostles concluded they needed to appoint deacons to divide the bread. The apostles could not address the responsibility because they needed to devote themselves “to prayer and to the ministry of the word (emphasis added).” Ministry of the word was not the first priority; it was prayer. The critical element of prayer was a theme that Lovelace meaningfully explored from start to finish.
The early sections of Dynamics did a good job of exploring man’s nature as generally good or generally evil. Lovelace cited Kierkegaard, who “complained that the New Testament as usually understood is an inadequate instrument for converting respectable people because it was designed for sinners.” If people don’t see themselves as such, it is harder to recognize a need for Christ. The Old Testament was designed to awaken a hunger for redemption. The law shows the need for reconciliation with God and His holiness. Lovelace stated that it must be a complete picture of God that Christians teach: “God’s mercy, patience, and love must be fully preached in the church. But they are not credible unless they are presented in tension with God‘s infinite power, complete and sovereign control of the universe, holiness, and righteousness.”
Relatedly, Lovelace’s exploration of justification versus sanctification was well done. He explained that being justified—claiming the righteousness of Christ the only ground for acceptance before God—creates a relaxing quality of trust. This trust that we are justified despite our inadequacies produces increasing sanctification—moving toward greater obedience—occurs out of love and gratitude.
Here is a great quote on an area where Christians often lose focus: Too often we work to maintain a personal and church culture and “forget outreach, especially if the process of reaching out involves touching those who may contaminate us.” This leads to maintaining denominational traditions and thus drifting away from the church’s true mission.
These ideas on neglecting prayer and individual churches’ self-maintenance come together in how we pray: “the proportion of horizontal communication that goes on in the church (in planning, arguing and, expanding) is overwhelmingly greater than that which is vertical (in worship, thanksgiving, confession, and intercession).”
Lovelace came back to prayer again when looking at small-group prayers: “Often the concerns which are shared and prayed about are wholly personal, involved with healing, psychological adjustment, and other immediate individual burdens. Larger issues which are closely related to the interests of the kingdom of God are ignored.” Lovelace continues that the Lord’s Prayer is instructive in its focus: worship, desire for God’s will on earth, and then personal concerns.
“The ‘ultimate concern’ of most church members is not the worship and service of Christ and evangelistic mission and social compassion, but rather survival and success in their secular vocation. The church is a spoke on the wheel of life connected to the secular hub. It is a departmental sub-concern, not the organizing center of all other concerns.”
Lovelace observed that this approach leads to external rule-following extending from a dose of willpower. But such a limited understanding of justification or being part of God’s beloved means there is little change toward the internal issues of pride, covetousness, and hostility. Lovelace compared this approach to church as a trained seal performing its routine. Attendees can participate in activities and toss around Christian buzzwords but the changed heart cannot occur with such superficiality.
The following paragraph seems especially relevant with what we saw amid the pandemic. Lovelace notes the insecurity that many people in the church experience: “Consciously, they defend themselves as dedicated Christians who are as good as anybody else, but underneath the conscious level there is deep despair and soft rejection. Above the surface this often manifest itself in a compulsive floating hostility which focuses upon others in critical judgment.” He continues: “Christians who are insecure in their relationship to Christ can be a thorn bush of criticism, rejection, estrangement, and party spirit. Unsure in the depths of their hearts what God thinks of them, church members will fanatically affirm their own gifts and take fierce offense when anyone slights them, or else they will fuss endlessly with a self-centered inventory of their own inferiority in an inverted pride.”
Lovelace explored the foundations of Christian counseling and the difficulty of reconciling biblical principles with modern psychology. He criticized individuals that neglect developing counseling ministries and sees it as “essential to the renewal of the local congregation.” Relatedly, Lovelace cautioned against repudiating all mainstream psychology—the nouthetic approach to counseling. He discusses this in the context of common grace and notes there are elements of truth in any system, including psychotherapy. The key is applying biblical truth to test and verify what is encountered in the field.
Lovelace referenced a thoughtful excerpt from Religious Affections by Jonathan Edwards: “Spiritual Pride is very apt to suspect others; whereas a humble saint is most jealous of himself, he is so suspicious of nothing in the world as he is of his own heart…But The eminently humble Christian has so much to do at home…that he is not apt to be very busy with the other hearts.” Lovelace continues: “Pride magnifies the faults of other Christians and diminishes their graces…” Additionally, spiritual pride often makes people concerned about externalities and being mocked or persecuted for those oddities rather than keeping the focus on appearing as fools on account of Christ. The former is an invented strangeness rather than Christ-focused living.
Lovelace observed that we see American traits of “covetousness, gluttony, egocentric libertarianism, and pride, all of which have been selectively bread into our culture,” which reflects what we might expect as distorted virtues in a free-market democracy—the desired traits of “ambition, enterprise, freedom, [and] self-respect” other cultures are certain to have other collective vices, but many Christians from other cultures observe that “American Christians have their lives organized around the kingdom of business success and not the kingdom of God.“
This section resonated deeply with me: “God has provided us with the ability to gather information and to make rational decisions in the light of [our intellect and experiences] in conformity with his revealed will in scripture. Any method of guidance which habitually detours around reason is crippling and dehumanizing. It will lead to indecision, hesitation to act where the imperatives of action are plain to reason informed by Scripture, and inability to plan properly and to maintain or adapt plans when made.” Lovelace continues, however, to note there is something more than reason alone, as Christians are to be “led by the Spirit of God.” Jonathan Edwards put it like this: “And thus the Spirit of God leads and guides the meek in his way…he enables them to understand the commands and counsels of his word, and rightly to apply them.”
Consider this observation by Father John Neuhaus believed that “culture is the root of politics, and religion is the root of culture.” As we look at the current state of politics and discourse, I can’t help but think how much time conservative Christians spend on politics rather than evangelism. The idea fits together with this observation by Lovelace on society: “The ultimate solution to cultural decay is not so much the repression of bad culture as the production of sound and healthy culture, which in a society salted with vital Christianity will readily crowd out the bad. Therefore, we should direct most of our energy not to the censorship of decadent culture, but the production and support of healthy expressions of Christian and non-Christian art.”
Lovelace summarizes Jonathan Edwards’s take on generosity as follows: “[W]e cannot Deny help to the undeserving, since this would clash with God’s gift of grace to us and our consequent obligation to love even our enemies. Nor can we fail to help the man who is indigence is due to his own financial in Providence; this is not necessarily sin but may be due to a warrant of economic sense which is as real a handicap is blindness. Even if it is delivered, it should be forgiven by fellow sinners. Even the man who is personally at fault and continues to be slothful for after receiving help should continue to get it, for the sake of his family! Against the backdrop of these rigorous deductions from the doctrines of grace, contemporary evangelical conservatism sounds like an echo of non-Christian callousness.”
This observation is worth exploring. Lovelace observed an unofficial divide of enculturation that has occurred. “Evangelicals became the Republican Party at prayer, and Liberals, the religious expression of Democratic ideals.” One consequence of this divide is Evangelicalism has become “remarkably inert in the social dimension” Lovelace also noted “In this century, the evangelical sector has specialized in theological and personal repentance, and the ‘liberal’ sector has specialized in social repentance. This division of labor has not worked very well.”
I found it striking how this 40-year-old passage could have easily been written today. Lovelace concludes that it is unacceptable to teach righteousness in an individual without fighting injustice and unrighteousness in corporate structures. He also concludes that it is similarly unacceptable to focus wholly on societal ills.
Lovelace again ties this back to prayer: “Most…who are praying are not praying about social issues, and most of those who are active in social issues are not praying.” The effect is little cultural effect by either liberals or evangelicals. Lovelace also circled back to evangelical inactivity when he wrote, “others may be profoundly uneasy about [these ideas] because it assumes our responsibility to work for better conditions in the world.”
Consider Lovelace’s concluding optimism that we may be in the greatest era of spreading the Gospel: “The world Evangelical community is organizing for mission now with a technological skill which is unprecedented. The number of available missionary fraternal workers is growing daily. The information and transportation explosions and the evolution of two great trade empires, the communist and capitalist worlds, have contracted the planet, if not to a single village, at least to several towns which are in close touch with one another.”
Remember, after all, “the central theme of the biblical drama of redemption…through the mercy of God.”
Dynamics of Spiritual Life is an excellent book, but the title seemed ill-fitting when I first started the book. My expectations were more of an individual focus on living, which Lovelace did address. The focus was more on the history of the church—what it is and what it should be. Yet after reading the book, the title seems all the more fitting. Lovelace’s books gives a game plan—particularly for church leaders—on how to live and where the focus in churches should be. Dynamics of Spiritual Life prompted significant contemplation and it is worth wrestling with the text. There is much to consider, and the results are certainly worthwhile.
Read
February 10, 2026This is the kind of book you want as your legacy/magnum opus. So deeply hopeful and refreshing! Regardless of what you think about "revival," you need to listen to what Lovelace has to say. I recently (and unexpectedly) heard someone on a podcast mention this book saying, "It's a weird book." Yes. Weird in the most exciting, provocative and challenging way.
But this is not merely an argument for or against a theology of renewal. It's not a "manual" for revival—thankfully. This is a prophetic call to the Evangelical church for a vibrant faith—"live orthodoxy."
The range of topics he calls the Church to awaken to is also part of the beauty of this book. His chapters on possible routes for ecumenical work and his call for the Church to pour resources into spaces that produce so-called "Christian art" (what Lovelace calls the "evangelical muse") are so deeply important for our cultural moment. Easily one of my favourite books of all time. Lovelace's ideas have and will certainly shape me for the rest of my life.
But this is not merely an argument for or against a theology of renewal. It's not a "manual" for revival—thankfully. This is a prophetic call to the Evangelical church for a vibrant faith—"live orthodoxy."
The range of topics he calls the Church to awaken to is also part of the beauty of this book. His chapters on possible routes for ecumenical work and his call for the Church to pour resources into spaces that produce so-called "Christian art" (what Lovelace calls the "evangelical muse") are so deeply important for our cultural moment. Easily one of my favourite books of all time. Lovelace's ideas have and will certainly shape me for the rest of my life.
January 10, 2015
There is the American way to eat a meal and the French way. The difference can be measured in time: one takes four times as long as the other. I ate this book the French way. Yeah, I probably chewed too slowly and some of the ideas grew cold, but stopping to savor every thought of Lovelace was worth it. This book has given me a renewed hope in the future missional effectiveness of the Church. It also proved my long-held contention that a good grasp of church history is more essential to formulating strategies for church renewal and kingdom expansion than many believe. If church leaders would read this book, along with the new Center Church by Tim Keller (which is indebted to Lovelace's work), the study of church history might regain a place of prominence and help us both to avoid repeating past mistakes and to emulate the godly practices of more "awakened" eras when the Church utilized holistic evangelistic efforts that included concern for social renewal.
August 20, 2018
Easily one of the most important books I've ever read. I will be coming back to this time, and time again.
July 24, 2013
I finished rereading Lovelace's large book for the first time in many years and I remember now the dual influence of his exercise in spiritual theology upon me. The first influence was in creating a sense of the place and the operation of renewal in the church argued from a firm basis in Scripture and in Lovelace's analysis of history. He sees renewal coming when the church realizes God's holiness and the depth of sin. Its primary elements are a connection of justification and sanctification and a deep experience of the Spirit and authority in spiritual conflict. The secondary elements he describes are in mission (evangelism and socially), prayer (individually and communally), communion, disenculturation (aware of cultural constraints), and theological integration (having the mind of Christ). His discussion of all these elements is rich, descriptive, and challenging to the individual and to the church.
The second influence on me was an awareness of church and especially American church history and the story that history tells. I have come to study a good deal more of church history in the interim, inspired in part by Lovelace. I like the story he tells with his history, even if I would disagree now, even vehemently, at points. At other points newer research/writing might alter his conclusions (it has aged, but with grace). Still, the basic narrative is one that shows the church to be much like Israel in its waywardness. He writes from amid the Charismatic renewal happening around him in the 70s and knows the necessity of the Spirit as well as the warpings of the spiritual that come so easily. He understands that because he is deeply rooted in the Puritans and especially in Edwards, who is quoted extensively throughout the book. Lovelace is Reformed and that affects his soteriology, but as he was converted reading Thomas Merton, he is not oppressively Reformed.
This is a long work that does not have to be read all the way through to find it useful. If you do read all the way through though you will enjoy his style, which is sharp, and the enormous detail he does provide. Still really excellent work.
The second influence on me was an awareness of church and especially American church history and the story that history tells. I have come to study a good deal more of church history in the interim, inspired in part by Lovelace. I like the story he tells with his history, even if I would disagree now, even vehemently, at points. At other points newer research/writing might alter his conclusions (it has aged, but with grace). Still, the basic narrative is one that shows the church to be much like Israel in its waywardness. He writes from amid the Charismatic renewal happening around him in the 70s and knows the necessity of the Spirit as well as the warpings of the spiritual that come so easily. He understands that because he is deeply rooted in the Puritans and especially in Edwards, who is quoted extensively throughout the book. Lovelace is Reformed and that affects his soteriology, but as he was converted reading Thomas Merton, he is not oppressively Reformed.
This is a long work that does not have to be read all the way through to find it useful. If you do read all the way through though you will enjoy his style, which is sharp, and the enormous detail he does provide. Still really excellent work.
May 6, 2024
Easily one of the most important books I’ve ever read. Here is a vision of what God has been doing in the world that makes sense of so much scripture and answers so many questions that every thoughtful believer will ask—I can’t imagine that anyone who loves the church and wants to see revival putting this book down without being greatly encouraged.
It’s not a quick read, but definitely worth the time.
It’s not a quick read, but definitely worth the time.
June 11, 2024
Such an incredible book. It didn’t make me think of revival or renewal a ton proportionate to how much it made me think about the gospel and the power of the gospel working in an individual (me) and how that can impact a whole society. So Beautiful.
November 19, 2025
I took this one slow and it was worth lingering on. Lovelace covers a lot of ground in his quest to illuminate what actually creates individual and corporate spiritual renewal: biblical examples; lots of historical ones with a lot of primary sourcing; logical and theological arguments; and what effect spiritual renewal should have in arenas like social service and justice, the arts, and missions.
I came away with two big ideas. For a 425+ page book, that feels manageable. First, nothing happens without prayer. There is no revival movement historically that was not beckoned with faithful prayer. That's encouraging and convicting in the best way. Second, on so many of the pages I recognized the extremely modest, super unflashy, but quietly faithful ways of the body I'm part of now. This church reveres God, loves Jesus, and holds doggedly to grace shared generously and doctrine held seriously yet humbly. Grateful.
I came away with two big ideas. For a 425+ page book, that feels manageable. First, nothing happens without prayer. There is no revival movement historically that was not beckoned with faithful prayer. That's encouraging and convicting in the best way. Second, on so many of the pages I recognized the extremely modest, super unflashy, but quietly faithful ways of the body I'm part of now. This church reveres God, loves Jesus, and holds doggedly to grace shared generously and doctrine held seriously yet humbly. Grateful.
February 8, 2020
This book has had a riveting spell on me since I first read it a decade ago and has continued to shape the fundamental landscape of my understanding of theology and spirituality ever since. He traces his conversion from atheism to his reading of Thomas Merton's Seven Storey Mountain, that led him to a journey of spiritual inquiry, where he met Christians of different shades and backgrounds. It was however the Reformed tradition/Puritans that had the most profound impact on him and opened him up to the transforming power of the gospel.
He sees a missing link between justification and sanctification among many believers which he dubs the 'sanctification gap'. He sees how it is possible to have confessed Christ, continue a life of religiosity and remain spiritually dead. In fact, either an encounter with the grace of God without an ensuing commitment to sanctification or an exposure to the righteous demands of God's law without a concomitant experience of his grace can lead to aberrant forms of the Christian life. He offers a way forward by explicating how justification and sanctification are brought together conceptually and in practice.
Presenting his understanding from the Reformed perspective, he outlines the fundamental core of the gospel message that can truly set us on a vibrant course of growth and renewal. This includes depth conception of sin, and encounter with the life-transforming grace of God, justification as well as sanctification by faith, an experience of God's complete acceptance of us through the righteous achievements of Christ, claiming our authority through Christ's defeat over the diabolic, prayer and complete reliance on the Spirit, disenculturation (freedom from cultural binds)of our faith and theological integration.
He includes some additional musings on music, eschatology, live orthodoxy and Christian social concern, each of which is inspiring and thought provoking. I have found the book to be beautiful and succint in its expression and spiritually and theologically challenging. He has written a simpler version of this book with discussion questions more recently for the benefit of some who found this original work less accessible but I have found that it is nothing like reading and drinking in again and again Lovelace's very fine book 'Dynamics of Spiritual Renewal' in all its depth and beauty.
He sees a missing link between justification and sanctification among many believers which he dubs the 'sanctification gap'. He sees how it is possible to have confessed Christ, continue a life of religiosity and remain spiritually dead. In fact, either an encounter with the grace of God without an ensuing commitment to sanctification or an exposure to the righteous demands of God's law without a concomitant experience of his grace can lead to aberrant forms of the Christian life. He offers a way forward by explicating how justification and sanctification are brought together conceptually and in practice.
Presenting his understanding from the Reformed perspective, he outlines the fundamental core of the gospel message that can truly set us on a vibrant course of growth and renewal. This includes depth conception of sin, and encounter with the life-transforming grace of God, justification as well as sanctification by faith, an experience of God's complete acceptance of us through the righteous achievements of Christ, claiming our authority through Christ's defeat over the diabolic, prayer and complete reliance on the Spirit, disenculturation (freedom from cultural binds)of our faith and theological integration.
He includes some additional musings on music, eschatology, live orthodoxy and Christian social concern, each of which is inspiring and thought provoking. I have found the book to be beautiful and succint in its expression and spiritually and theologically challenging. He has written a simpler version of this book with discussion questions more recently for the benefit of some who found this original work less accessible but I have found that it is nothing like reading and drinking in again and again Lovelace's very fine book 'Dynamics of Spiritual Renewal' in all its depth and beauty.
January 23, 2018
I am deeply indebted to this book which I first found in my Bible College's library after seeing it footnoted in a couple places in Keller's Prodigal God. I started working through it and it reshaped a lot of my thinking in really positive ways. I can't recommend it highly enough. I have returned to it time and again to clarify my own thinking and to be reminded of the precious truths he so helpfully distills from a lifelong study of the Scriptures and Church History.
It contains what I think to be a pretty phenomenal description of the nature of sin:
"The structure of sin in the human personality is something far more complicated than the isolated acts and thoughts of deliberate disobedience commonly designated by the word. In its biblical definition, sin cannot be limited to isolated instances or [even] patterns of wrongdoing; it is something much more akin to the psychological term complex: an organic network of compulsive attitudes, beliefs and behavior deeply rooted in our alienation from God. Sin originated in the darkening of the human mind and heart as man turned from the truth about God to embrace a lie about him and consequently a whole universe of lies about his creation. Sinful thoughts, words and deeds flow forth from this darkened heart automatically and compulsively, as water from a polluted fountain. ... The human heart is now a reservoir of unconscious disordered motivation and response, of which unrenewed persons are unaware if left to themselves, for "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately corrupt; who can understand it?" (Jer. 17:9). ... The mechanism by which this unconscious reservoir of darkness is formed is identified in Rom. 1:18-23 as repression of traumatic material, chiefly the truth about God and our condition, which the unregenerate constantly and dynamically "hold down." Their darkness is always a voluntary darkness, though they are unaware that they are repressing the truth."
It contains what I think to be a pretty phenomenal description of the nature of sin:
"The structure of sin in the human personality is something far more complicated than the isolated acts and thoughts of deliberate disobedience commonly designated by the word. In its biblical definition, sin cannot be limited to isolated instances or [even] patterns of wrongdoing; it is something much more akin to the psychological term complex: an organic network of compulsive attitudes, beliefs and behavior deeply rooted in our alienation from God. Sin originated in the darkening of the human mind and heart as man turned from the truth about God to embrace a lie about him and consequently a whole universe of lies about his creation. Sinful thoughts, words and deeds flow forth from this darkened heart automatically and compulsively, as water from a polluted fountain. ... The human heart is now a reservoir of unconscious disordered motivation and response, of which unrenewed persons are unaware if left to themselves, for "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately corrupt; who can understand it?" (Jer. 17:9). ... The mechanism by which this unconscious reservoir of darkness is formed is identified in Rom. 1:18-23 as repression of traumatic material, chiefly the truth about God and our condition, which the unregenerate constantly and dynamically "hold down." Their darkness is always a voluntary darkness, though they are unaware that they are repressing the truth."
March 21, 2014
I saw Dynamics of Spiritual Life: An Evangelical Theology of Renewal (1979) on a few different reading lists of people I trust. This large book written by a church history professor is wide ranging in scope, but highly readable. Essentially, the author explores the history of revivals and spiritual renewal in the church and especially the "evangelical" church, such as the first and second great awakenings. He spent quite a bit of time discussing Jonathan Edwards, who was a catalyst in the first great awakening in America and a fine writer to boot.
I found this to be a theologically rich book covering a wide variety of topics such sotierology, eschatology, pneumatology, and eschatology but generally grounded in the history of the church. Although addressing evangelicalism, he ventures more broadly into Roman Catholicism, Lutheran Pietism, and Reformed Puritanism to name a few.
There was much to commend about this book. I think it would be useful for church leaders to read even today to read and understand the dynamics of renewal. As a psychologist and one who is interested in the life of the soul, I found this book particularly sensitive to the role of soul care in the church. Lovelace does not commend a primarily exhortational method nor does he go so far as to wholly give way to modern forms of psychotherapy. In other words, his writings would seem to fit comfortably in the world of Christian Psychology, where I tend to identify myself.
For the average reader, this book may be overwhelming. It is 455 pages long and he is prone to using technical terminology at times. If you are willing to wade through that, however, I think the extra work will be worth the reward.
I found this to be a theologically rich book covering a wide variety of topics such sotierology, eschatology, pneumatology, and eschatology but generally grounded in the history of the church. Although addressing evangelicalism, he ventures more broadly into Roman Catholicism, Lutheran Pietism, and Reformed Puritanism to name a few.
There was much to commend about this book. I think it would be useful for church leaders to read even today to read and understand the dynamics of renewal. As a psychologist and one who is interested in the life of the soul, I found this book particularly sensitive to the role of soul care in the church. Lovelace does not commend a primarily exhortational method nor does he go so far as to wholly give way to modern forms of psychotherapy. In other words, his writings would seem to fit comfortably in the world of Christian Psychology, where I tend to identify myself.
For the average reader, this book may be overwhelming. It is 455 pages long and he is prone to using technical terminology at times. If you are willing to wade through that, however, I think the extra work will be worth the reward.
March 24, 2013
If you are looking for something that chronicles a historical perspective of the development of Christian and Biblical spiritual development from a scholarly (but not super heavy) standpoint, Lovelace provides it in this book. He leaves no evangelical tradition's stone unturned and causes the reader to ask questions about his/her own evangelical tradition's heritage and convictions. An excellent objective (as much as possible - the author is Reformed in perspective) treatment of the subject. I was fascinated by the book.
July 12, 2007
Lovelace, a church historian, traces the history of personal and corporate renewal. He establishes the primary and secondary elements of renewal through the church's history. This is a good read for examining why some ministries take off while others wallow in mediocrity. It gives a reader the opportunity to reflect on God's design for using His people and for those people to get in line with His purposes through their lives.
March 24, 2014
Fantastic book that should be more widely read among Christians for its gospel-centered study, reaching across many traditions, on revival and spirituality in evangelicalism. Like any book, one will not agree with all of Lovelace's opinions, but I'm convinced you will leave it challenged and helped. I will be revisiting it often. I found the first-half superb, and while its a touch slower on the back-end of its 435 pages, it's still darn good.
October 29, 2020
Excellent work regarding the nature, history and dynamics of spiritual renewal. Anyone familiar with Keller's work, as he puts it in the foreword, will figure out that he got most of his distinctive theological applications from Lovelace. The central use or application of the reality of justification for sanctification is paramount in the book, and it is explained and applied beautifully.
February 12, 2024
An optimistic but honest appraisal of church history and the call of a church. It will help believers direct their prayer lives and efforts toward a move of God that transforms the hearts of people and breathes life into communities.
Want to read
September 8, 2008have heard nothing but good stuff about this book. probably be a slow read.
March 25, 2019
This is one of the most influential books in my life. I think about its conclusions everyday.
February 8, 2020
This book has had a riveting spell on me since I first read it a decade ago and has continued to shape the fundamental landscape of my understanding of theology and spirituality ever since. He traces his conversion from atheism to his reading of Thomas Merton's Seven Storey Mountain, that led him to a journey of spiritual inquiry, where he met Christians of different shades and backgrounds. It was however the Reformed tradition/Puritans that had the most profound impact on him and opened him up to the transforming power of the gospel.
He sees a missing link between justification and sanctification among many believers which he dubs the 'sanctification gap'. He sees how it is possible to have confessed Christ, continue a life of religiosity and remain spiritually dead. In fact, either an encounter with the grace of God without an ensuing commitment to sanctification or an exposure to the righteous demands of God's law without a concomitant experience of his grace can lead to aberrant forms of the Christian life. He offers a way forward by explicating how justification and sanctification are brought together conceptually and in practice.
Presenting his understanding from the Reformed perspective, he outlines the fundamental core of the gospel message that can truly set us on a vibrant course of growth and renewal. This includes depth conception of sin, and encounter with the life-transforming grace of God, justification as well as sanctification by faith, an experience of God's complete acceptance of us through the righteous achievements of Christ, claiming our authority through Christ's defeat over the diabolic, prayer and complete reliance on the Spirit, disenculturation (freedom from cultural binds)of our faith and theological integration.
He includes some additional musings on music, eschatology, live orthodoxy and Christian social concern, each of which is inspiring and thought provoking. I have found the book to be beautiful and succint in its expression and spiritually and theologically challenging. He has written a simpler version of this book with discussion questions more recently for the benefit of some who found this original work less accessible but I have found that it is nothing like reading and drinking in again and again Lovelace's very fine book 'Dynamics of Spiritual Renewal' in all its depth and beauty.
He sees a missing link between justification and sanctification among many believers which he dubs the 'sanctification gap'. He sees how it is possible to have confessed Christ, continue a life of religiosity and remain spiritually dead. In fact, either an encounter with the grace of God without an ensuing commitment to sanctification or an exposure to the righteous demands of God's law without a concomitant experience of his grace can lead to aberrant forms of the Christian life. He offers a way forward by explicating how justification and sanctification are brought together conceptually and in practice.
Presenting his understanding from the Reformed perspective, he outlines the fundamental core of the gospel message that can truly set us on a vibrant course of growth and renewal. This includes depth conception of sin, and encounter with the life-transforming grace of God, justification as well as sanctification by faith, an experience of God's complete acceptance of us through the righteous achievements of Christ, claiming our authority through Christ's defeat over the diabolic, prayer and complete reliance on the Spirit, disenculturation (freedom from cultural binds)of our faith and theological integration.
He includes some additional musings on music, eschatology, live orthodoxy and Christian social concern, each of which is inspiring and thought provoking. I have found the book to be beautiful and succint in its expression and spiritually and theologically challenging. He has written a simpler version of this book with discussion questions more recently for the benefit of some who found this original work less accessible but I have found that it is nothing like reading and drinking in again and again Lovelace's very fine book 'Dynamics of Spiritual Renewal' in all its depth and beauty.
February 22, 2018
This book is hard to narrow down in terms of genre. Tim Keller says that when you finish this book, you’ll feel like you’ve read at least three different books in one. I agree with him. But wow, what a book!
Part systematic theology, part biblical theology, part historical theology, part church history, part devotional, part philosophical and part social critique, Lovelace’s scope is very broad. He even covers a theology of music to a significant degree (too bad his vision for a resurgence of Christian music never happened... I wonder what he would have said about 90s Christian music, haha)
At 400+ pages with not so large font, it is a lengthy read. It’s written from a reformed perspective but he is very generous and fair to all aspects of Christianity, sometimes to a fault. All to say, I found myself walking away from it wanting to be more and more charismatic than ever before. Of course I don’t agree with everything he said, he can be idealistic at times.
I must say, his general concept of “Live Orthodoxy” that is the basis of the book will be something that will stick around in my ecclesiological filter for some time to come. It’s an inspiring read, a challenging read, and it has spurred me on in my current church planting endeavor. I’m so, so happy I’ve read this book, and I wish all church planters and pastors would read this book.
If you want spiritual renewal in the American church, that we can grab his list and the process he found common throughout church history of renewals on pg. 75, create environments where these characteristics can be had, and pray for the Holy Spirit to activate them to renewal if he should wish. At minimum you will be having a biblical, active church. At best, we could see the Spirit renew a congregation. It’s exciting to think and pray about.
Just make sure you get your pen out... mark up your copy.
Part systematic theology, part biblical theology, part historical theology, part church history, part devotional, part philosophical and part social critique, Lovelace’s scope is very broad. He even covers a theology of music to a significant degree (too bad his vision for a resurgence of Christian music never happened... I wonder what he would have said about 90s Christian music, haha)
At 400+ pages with not so large font, it is a lengthy read. It’s written from a reformed perspective but he is very generous and fair to all aspects of Christianity, sometimes to a fault. All to say, I found myself walking away from it wanting to be more and more charismatic than ever before. Of course I don’t agree with everything he said, he can be idealistic at times.
I must say, his general concept of “Live Orthodoxy” that is the basis of the book will be something that will stick around in my ecclesiological filter for some time to come. It’s an inspiring read, a challenging read, and it has spurred me on in my current church planting endeavor. I’m so, so happy I’ve read this book, and I wish all church planters and pastors would read this book.
If you want spiritual renewal in the American church, that we can grab his list and the process he found common throughout church history of renewals on pg. 75, create environments where these characteristics can be had, and pray for the Holy Spirit to activate them to renewal if he should wish. At minimum you will be having a biblical, active church. At best, we could see the Spirit renew a congregation. It’s exciting to think and pray about.
Just make sure you get your pen out... mark up your copy.
July 19, 2020
For years I was finding Lovelace’s Dynamics of Spiritual Life referred to in footnotes from notable evangelical reformed writers when they touched on revival in our modern age. It is no wonder, his thinking on the subject of revival/renewal is expansive. It reaches back to the reformers and puritans who influenced Jonathan Edwards’ own experience of revival. It also stretches ahead of Lovelace’s own generation to paint a picture of how and what a true Gospel revival could look like in the Church and in our Society. He pulls together so many threads that, although I don’t agree with all of his conclusions, the presentation of modern church history with several theological systems is a helpful learning experience.
May 8, 2024
This is a large book that covers lots of ground. For that reason, it is hard to sum up. The first half on the dynamics of spiritual renewal is fantastic, loaded with insights on the Christian life and renewal, with a good amount of history of renewals. I underlined a ton. The second half on renewal in the church got increasingly dated (as this was written in 1979). The chapter on the evangelical muse looks a bit silly in hindsight. Most readers would probably find plenty to disagree with in the latter chapters as he envisions what future renewal might look like. Still, there are many helpful insights in these chapters too. If not for the last few chapters, I’d easily give it a 5 star rating.
July 26, 2020
Read this book after seeing it recommended by two men I respect a lot - David Powlison and Tim Keller. And am so thankful I read it. It's such a wonderful book on spiritual formation. I read it a number of years ago, and keep going back to it again and again. Covers pretty much every part of the Christian life, is sometimes a bit dated (written in 1979 with a number of cultural discussions based then), but is so deeply grounded in the glorious and gracious work of Christ, specific in application, and generous with people who love Jesus but who may think differently to how the author or we might. My go-to book on spiritual formation and spirituality.
October 29, 2023
This wonderful title has shaped many great leaders that I have admired & respect. It’s a unique piece that traces not a methodology of renewal, but thoroughly examines times of renewal in Scripture and history, in how the spiritual life flourishes at moments of history. While the approach Lovelace used is sometimes a little subjective, even narrow, he certainly does not present a narrow view of God or the transformative power of the Gospel. The last third of the book was a slog, as there parts that were hypothetical & theoretical rather than theological. Overall, a truly helpful title & a masterpiece of Christian literature deserving of its place in modern true evangelicalism.
December 30, 2024
I read half of this book earlier in the year and the other half this week. It’s an invigorating read, connecting so many pieces that are often left apart, from sin-justification-sanctification to prayer-community-mission with lots of reflection on how the church is to navigate culture and communicate its theology. There is a heavy emphasis on the complementarity and mutual necessity of evangelical witness and social concern, which I found especially thought-provoking. It’s always so easy to slide to one side to the exclusion of the other.
This is the kind of book that (despite coming from a couple of generations ago) could stimulate church renewal today, so I hope to revisit it often.
This is the kind of book that (despite coming from a couple of generations ago) could stimulate church renewal today, so I hope to revisit it often.
September 2, 2021
Keller references this book as one of the most important he’s ever read. So why only 4 stars? It’s length detracts from its punch and insight. Written by a church historian, you get many wandering historical sketches leading up to his main points. Some are fascinating and important, others not so much.
That said, the chart on p72 which shares the title of the book is worth the price of the whole book. I wouldn’t be surprised if others argue this book was the fountainhead of the “gospel centered” movement.
That said, the chart on p72 which shares the title of the book is worth the price of the whole book. I wouldn’t be surprised if others argue this book was the fountainhead of the “gospel centered” movement.
September 13, 2022
What a delight to read this 40 years since I first read it. It is amazing how contemporary it has turned out to be, though there are indications it was written in the 70s. This time I pulled out pages of must-save notes, statements dealing directly with our pursuit of renewal. Thanks to its balanced critique and positive encouragement for renewal, I probably need to revisit this book every couple of years.
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